Charging of cupolas or the like



Oct. 16, 1956 a. J. SMITH 2,766,896

CHARGING 0F CUPOLAS OR THE LIKE Filed June 15, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR STUART 1 SPHTH W a/M ATTORNEY S. J. SMITH CHARGING OF CUPOLAS OR THE LIKE Oct. 16, 1956 5 Shets- Sheet 3 Filed June 15, 1953 INVENT OR STUART tr sMn-H W WWW ZfiORNEY Oct. 16, 1956 Filed June 15, 1953 S. J. SMITH CHARGING OF CUPOLASOR THE LIKE 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 STUART I sni'ru INVENTOR A TTORNEY Oct. 16, 1956 s. J. SMITH CHARGING 0F CUPOLAS OR THE LIKE 5 Sheets--Sheet 5 Filed June 15, 1953 INVN7OR STUART I SM 1TH ATTORNEY United States Patent 6 CHARGING F CUPOLAS OR THE LIKE Stuart Jervis Smith, Hillside, England Application June 15 1953, Serial No. 361,763

Claims priority, application Great Britain June 19, 1952 '5 Claims. (Cl. 214-19) This invention relates to the charging of cupolas or the like. The object of the invention is the provision of a system for charging cupolas or the like which will be automatic, uniform and regular, and will provide for easy changing of the charging analysis which a cupola is to receive.

The invention consists broadly of apparatus for charging cupolas, blast furnaces or like receptacles which require periodical charging, comprising a conveyor adapted to convey a series of containers containing different charging materials past a receptacle, and selector mechanism associated with said receptacle, whereby, when a container whose material is preselected for said receptacle, reaches said receptacle, said material is automatically discharged from said container into said recep tacle.

In order that the invention may be the more clearly understood a system in accordance therewith, for charging a plurality of cupolas which may require diiferent charging analyses, will now be described, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure l is a somewhat diagrammatic side elevation of the general layout;

Figure 2 is a somewhat diagrammatic plan of the same;

Figure 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic end view of the same, part of the top structure being shown in Figure 3, which is omitted from Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is a section on line IV-IV of Figure 8 illustrating the selector mechanism by which the charges required by each cupola are selected;

Figure 5 is a plan of the same;

Figure 6 is a section on line VIVI of Figure 4;

Figure 7 is'a section on line VIIVII of Figure 4;

Figure 8 is a side elevation of the mechanism for discharging the buckets into the cupolas as preselected by the mechanism of Figures 4 to 7, the bucket in Figure 8 being further advanced than in Figure 4.

Figure 9 is an end elevation of the mechanism illustrated in Figure 8.

Referring to the drawings, the system comprises an endless conveyor for a plurality of buckets 1. This conveyor comprises a stationary endless track 2, consisting of a series of 1 section girders end to end, and an endless chain 3 running just underneath said track. Said track is; supported by an open steel structure indicated generally by the reference 5. Each bucket 1 is suspended by means of a bale from a trolley 5 which has two wheels 6 mounted thereon which run on the lower flange of the track 2 on each side of the web as best seen in Figure 4. The trolleys 5 are secured to the endless chain 3 at equal intervals therealong, throughout the whole extent thereof, and thus, as the chain 3 is driven the trolleys 5 are moved along the track 2 together with the buckets 1 suspended therefrom. In practice, to keep the chain 3 steady, there are twice as many trolleys-5 as buckets 1, and the buckets hangonly from alternate trolleys. The buckets 1 are conveyed continuously past the mouths 7 of the several cupolas 8 and also past a charging station at 9. The buckets 1 are manually charged as they pass the charging station 9, and as they successively pass the months 7 of the cupolas 8, they are actuated by aut0- matic selector mechanism which will be described hereinafter (indicated by reference L in Figures 2 and 3) so that the appropriate ones are inverted when at the appropriate cupolas and discharge their contents therein. The conveyor moves continuously at a slow rate so that no diiiiculty is experienced in charging the buckets 1 as they pass the charging station 9.

For preselecting the discharge of the buckets 1 into the cupolas 8, the bale 4 by which each bucket is suspended has a cleat 10 mounted on it so as to project horizontally sideways. Said cleat 10 can be arranged to project on either side and at any of a number of predetermined levels. Above the mouth 7 of each cupola 8, and arranged so that the bales of the buckets pass between them are two vertical jig bars 11 (Figure 4). Said jig bars 11 are rotatable about their vertical axes and each one is spring biased rotatably against a stop to a normal position as will hereinafter be more particularly described. Each jig bar 11 has mounted on its fingers 12 which project horizontally towards the path of the bales 4 when said jig bar is at its normal position, and the several fingers are adjusted to levels according to the materials which that cupola 8 is intended to receive. Each finger carries an anti friction wheel 13.

When a bucket 1 arrives, the contents of which are to be discharged into that particular cupola 8, the cleat 10 on the bale 4 of that bucket will engage the roller 13 of a finger'lz on one of the jig bars 11 of that cupola and will partially rotate said jig bar against its spring bias. This will cause acam 14 at the upper end of said jig bar to close a switch 15. This effects the energisation of a solenoid 16 (Figures 8' and 9) and the plunger of saidsolenoid raises a weight 17 from its normal supporting base 18. Said weight 17 is latched at its up position by means of a latch 19. Said weight has attached to it a vertical rack 20 which engages with a pinion 21 fast on a shaft 22. Said shaft 22 has a striker 23 extending radially from it. Whensaid weight 17 is at the down position, said striker 23 occupies the horizontal position .shown in full lines in Figure 8. When the weight is raised to the up position, the rack 20 causes the pinion 21, and therefore the shaft 22, to rotate through half a revolution, so that the striker 23 occupies the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 8; Momentary closure of the switch 15, therefore, causes the striker 23 to bemoved from the full line position of Figure '8 to the dotted line position, and there to stay owing to the weight 17 being latched at its up position. Shortly after the bale 4 has passed beyond the jig bars 11, and when it has reached its correct position relative to the mouth 7 of the cupola 8, the trolley 5 engages downwardly depending arms 24,

.one each side of the track 2, which pivot at their upper ends about a pin 25 mounted on the top of said track. Rigid with said arms 24 is a horizontal arm 26 which normally lies on the top of the track 2, and when said trolley 5 engages the arms 24 and presses them forwards the arm 26 is raised, and thereby, through the medium of a cord 27, releases the latch 19, permitting the weight 17 to fall rapidly under gravity back on its base 18. This causes the striker 23 to return rapidly to the full line posi- "tionof Figure 8, and the position of the bucket 1 is now such that the returning sriker strikes, with a hammer blow, the usual pivoted catch 28, which normally retains the bucket upright by hanging down between projections '29 on the bottom of said bucket, and rotates said catch so that it clears said projections 29, thereby causing the bucket to turn over and discharge its contents into the 'Figure 6.

cupola. The striker mechanism of Figures 8 and 9 is indicated by the reference K in Figures 1 to 3.

It will of course be understood that when a bucket 1 passes, the contents of which are not required by a par,- ticular cupola, the cleat 10 on the bale 4 of that bucket will'miss all. the fingers 12 on the two jig bars 11 of that cupola. In practice the two jig bars 11 of each cupola are arranged to be easily replaceable by two otherjig bars To this end 'there'are a set of say four jig bars on each side offthe pathof'the bales 4all four of which are mounted between upper -and lower horizontal discs and 31; The jigbars which are not at the moment in use have been designated 11a. Said upper and lower discs 30 and 3.1 are mounted on a common vertical shaft 32 which is rotatable and the four jig bars 11,11a, 11a, 1111 are mounted equidistantly from said shaft. As the shaft 3Z'is rotated the four jig bars successively occupy a position nearest the path of the bales 4, and this is the operative position.

'The two, vertical shafts 32 carry gearwheels 33 at their upper extremities (above the upper discs 30) and said gear Wheels '33 are gearedtogether by means of a common gear wheel 34 between them. Thus when it is wished to replace the two operative jig bars 11 of a cupola by two others 110, all that is necessary is to rotate one 7 of the vertical shafts 32 through a quarter of a turn and the other vertical shaft 32 will rotate in the same direction through a quarter of a turn and thus the two next jig bars will be brought to the operative position. These will have had fingers 12 previously arranged on them at preselected levels, so all is now set to deliver a different charging analysis tothat cupola.

The jig bars 11, 11a are readily removable from, and replaceable between theupper and lower discs 30 and 31's'o that their fingers 12 can be readjusted. To this end the upper end of each jig bar has a diametrical slot 35 which. is engaged by a diainetrical tongue 36 on the lower end of a short vertical rod 37 forming an extension of said jig bar and which is actually mounted in the upper disc 30. The jig bars are hollow, and each one at its lower end has a projecting rod .38 which telescopes into it. Each projecting rod 38 has an enlarged head 39 at its lower end 'which is conioally pointed on its under -side, and the conical points ofthe heads 39 engage in corresponding conical recesses in the upper surface of the actuate the respective switches either of-which will energise the solenoid 16.

The buckets 1 are attached to their bales through the medium of compression springs 44'as shown in Figure 9, and the degree of compression of each compression spring indicates the load carriedby the bucket. Each bucket is marked, say by colouring, to indicate the material it is to contain, and, as the buckets. arrive at the charging station 9., each one which is inverted is turned upright and then charged with its appropriate material 9 to a e 2111011111 of sa t o cwt- 1 leave the charging station 9 fully charged with their appropriate materials.

V The charging station is at ground level and conveyor.

track portions running in opposite directions pass along opposite sides of said charging station as clearly shown in Figure 2 thus giving ample time for the loading gang te, attend to each bucket 1. As before stated the con veyor moves slowly and may take say 20 minutes to complete a eircuit. The conveyortrack mounts at a suitable angle to the mouths 7 of the cupolas 8, as shown in Figure l.

At the region of each cupola horizontal guide bars 45 are provided, one on each side of the bale 4, to steady said. bales and keep them in their proper paths as they pass between the jig bars.

The conveyor chain 3 is guided partly by being attached to the trolleys 5 which run along the track 2 as aforestated, and partly bypassing round sprockets 46 at the various benfds.

, shown at the lefthand top corners of Figure 2 is driven cleat which straddle said upright member and are se-.

lower disc Coil springs 40 coiled about the projecta ing rods 38 are in compression between the heads 39 and the lower ends of the jig bars 11, 11a, and thus the jig bars are biased upwards so that the engagement of the slots 35 withthe tongues 36' is maintained; When it is desiredito remove a jig bar, all that is necessary is to press it downwards. This causes the jig bar'to telescope over the rod 38, thereby compressing the spring 40, and separates the slot 35 from the tongue 36, so that the jig bar, together with the rod 38 can be lifted from V the disc 31 Means are of course provided to prevent the rod 38 from coming away completely from the jig bar. When the fingers 12 of the jig bar have been'readjusted, the replacement ofsaid jig bar is equally easy.

In practice the cams 14 at the upper ends of the jig bars 11, 11a are mounted on the. short vertical rods 37 at a, level above the upper disc 30. Forrotatably biasing said jig bars'to their normal rotary positions, said short vertical rods 37 have collars 41; on them at a level beneath the upper disc 30 and a torsion spring 42 is coiled on each short verticalrod between, its collan and said upper disc and is anchored at its two endsto. said collar and upper disc. The normal rotary positions of said jig bars are determined by stops 45, mounted on the upper surface of the upper disc 30 the cams having radial, projections Which engage said stops as -clearly. shown in It 7 will be understood that there are two switches 15, one each side, and that the cams 14' appertaining to the two operative jig bars 11a are in position to by means of a prime mover, and thus the, chain 3 is driven and the buckets are conveyed.

The speed of the conveyor is pre-set through a variable gear box between th prime mover and the driving sprocket, to :conform tothe melting rate of the cupolas,

and, when desired, the solenoid 16 of each cupola can be electrically linked to the cupola air-blast gate, in such a way that materials will be charged to said cupola only when the cupola is melting, this giving extremely regular charging and uniform height of the stock in the cupola.

Describing now certain constitutional details, each cleat 10 is mounted on either of the upright members 4 constituting the bale, according to which way said cleat is toproject, by means of lateral projections 47 from the cured thereto by means of bolts 48 passing through said projections and upright members as clearly shown in Figure 7. The upright members are provided with a number of holesrat spaced intervals so that the :cleat can be mounted at any of a number of definite predetermined any of 'a number of definite predetermined levels on said jig bar. These levels ofcourse. correspond to the levels at which the cleats. 10; can be mounted onthe bales 4.

The correlation betweeneach operative cam 14 and. its respective switch- 15; is; shown in Figure. 6'. Thus said cam 14- rocks a lever 51; abouta fixed: pin 52. The switch 15 has an actuating arms 53 which carries an anti-friction wheel 54, and, when the lever 51 is rocked by the cam 14, it engages said wheel 54 and moves said arm 53 to the switch closed position. ,Said lever 51 has" a p te. 55 m unted. alo v ts sid which engages the cam 14 and the antirfi otion wheel 54. This face plate, at the end which engages the friction wheel 54 is pivoted to the lever 51 at',56". At its other end it is biased away from saidlever-51 by means of-a stiif spring Thus all the'buckets 57 to a limiting position. Thus the cam 14 actuates the lever 51 through'the spring 57. The purpose of the spring 57 is that when the spring has been actuated to its fully closed position, a slight further movement of the face plate 55 by the cam 14 causes said spring to yield, and thus the switch cannot be damaged.

It will be seen from Figures 4 to 7, that the two sets of jig bars 11, 11a are mounted 'in respective frame structures made up of frame members 58. At the top there is a common strong horizontal frame made up of frame members 59 and closed in by a horizontal top plate 60. This horizontal frame is mounted on the track 2, as shown, and the said two frame structures which protect the jig bars depend down from this horizontal frame, one each side of said track. The gear wheels 33 on the upper ends of the vertical shafts 32 rotate in bearings 61 carried by said top plate 60, said gear Wheels 33 having bosses as shown which rest on said bearings 61. The gear wheel 34 rotates on a pivot pin 62 which projects up from the top plate 61 immediately above the track 2.

The two frame structures which protect the jig bars carry horizontal plates 63 at their lower ends, and these horizontal plates carry bearings 64 in which the shafts 32 rotate, and on which the discs 31 rest.

The rotation of the shafts '32 for bringing fresh jig bars into place is effected by means of a hand lever 65 on the bottom of one of said shafts 32. This lever 65 has a handle 66 which is spring biased relative to said lever to an up position at which a pin 67 attached to said handle engages in any one of four holes in a plate 68 secured to the underside of the plate 63. Thus, to make a change of jig bars, the handle 66 is pulled down to disengage the pin 67 from one hole. The lever 65 is then rotated, and the handle 66 is released upwardly to permit the pin 67 to engage in the next hole.

As will be seen from Figures 8 and 9, the whole of the mechanism controlling the striker 23 is carried by an open structure consisting of frame members 69. This structure is appropriately mounted on the main structure S.

As an alternative the latch 19 could be controlled electrically instead of by the cord 27.

Further details of construction are deemed sufiiciently clear from the drawings.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for charging cupolas, blast furnaces and like receptacles which require periodical charging, comprising an endless conveyor, a series of containers, for containing different charging materials, adapted to be conveyed by said conveyor past a series of the receptacles, a catch associated with each of said containers, said catch being movable from a normal position to a release position to cause said container to discharge its material, and preselector mechanism for all of said receptacles and containers, whereby any selected container may be preselected to have its catch moved to the release position, upon said selected container reaching an appropriate position relative to any selected receptacle, to cause said selected container to discharge its material into said selected receptacle, said preselector mechanism comprising a striker appertaining to each receptacle biased to a normal position and movable in opposition to its bias to a cooked position, means whereby, upon said selected container reaching a given position relative to said selected receptacle, the striker appertaining to said selected receptacle is moved from its normal position to its cocked position, and means whereby, upon said selected container advancing further to said appropriate position, said striker is released to return to its normal position, and thereby, with a hammer blow strike the catch associated to said selected container to the release position.

2. Apparatus for charging cupolas, blast furnaces and like receptacles which require periodical charging, comprising an endless conveyor, a series of. containers, for containing different charging materials, adapted to be conveyed by said conveyor past a series of the receptacles, a catch associated with each of said containers, said catch being movable from a normal position to a release position to cause said container to discharge its material, and preselector mechanism for all of said receptacles and containers, whereby any selected container may be preselected to have its catch moved to the release position, upon said selected container reaching an appropriate position relative to any selected receptacle, to cause said selected container to discharge its material into said selected receptacle, said preselector mechanism comprising a striker appertaining to each receptacle biased to a normal position and movable in opposition to its bias to a cooked position, an electromagnet appertaining to each receptacle, said electromagnet being adapted, upon energisation, to move the striker appertaining to the same receptacle from the normal to the cocked position, means whereby, upon said selected container passing through a given position relative to said selected receptacle, the electromagnet appertaining to said selected receptacle is momentarily energised and the striker appertaining to the same receptacle is thereby moved to the cocked position and means whereby, upon said selected container advancing further to said appropriate position, said striker is released to return to its normal position, and thereby, with a hammer blow strike the catch associated to said selected container to the release position.

3. Apparatus for charging cupolas, blast furnaces and like receptacles which require periodical charging, com prising an endless conveyor, a series of containers, for containing dilferent ch-argin materials, adapted to be conveyed by said conveyor past a series of the receptacles, an operating element associated with each container, said operating element being conveyed together with said container and being adjustable to a preselected position relative to said container, according to the character of the charging material contained in said container, a plurality of selector carriers associated with each receptacle, a plurality of selector elements mounted on each selector carrier at individually preselected positions relative to said selector carrier according to the character of the different charging materials required by said receptacle, a master carrier associated with each receptacle, for carrying a plurality of said selector carriers with their selector elements ready mounted thereon, said master carrier being rotatable and being adapted, by its rotation to substitute said selector carriers for one another at an operative position, such that any selector element of a selector carrier at said operative position will be engaged by any correspondingly adjusted operating element of any container, and means whereby, as a result of any operating element engaging any selector element during the passage of the containers past the receptacles the charge contained in the container associated with said operating element will be discharged into the receptacle associated with said selector element.

4. Apparatus for charging cupolas, blast furnaces and like receptacles which require periodical charging, comprising an endless conveyor, a series of containers, for containing different charging materials, adapted to be conveyed by said conveyor past a series of the receptacles, an operating element associated with each container, said operating element being conveyed together with said container and being adjustable to a preselected position relative to said container, according to the character of the charging material contained in said container, a plurality of selector carriers associated with each receptacle, a plurality of selector elements mounted on each selector carrier at individually preselected positions relative to said selector carrier according to the character of the diflerent charging materials required by said receptacle, a master carrier associated with each receptacle, for detachably car yi g a plurality of said selector carriers-with these-lector elements ready mounted thereon, said master carrier being rotatable and being adapted, by its rotation to substitute said selector carriers for one another at an operative position, such that any selector element of a selector oarrier at said operative position will be engaged by any correspondinglyadjusted operating element of any container, and rneans whereby, as a resnlt of any operating element engaging any selector element during the passage of the containers past the receptacles the charge contained in the container associated with said operating element will be discharged into the receptacle associated with said selector element.

5 Apparatus for charging cupol-as, blast furnaces and like receptacles which require periodical charging, comprising -an endless conveyor, a series of containers, for containing difierent charging materials, adapted to be conveyed by said conveyor past a series of the receptacles,

charging material contained in said container, a selector elernent associated with each receptacle, said selector ele ment being adjustable to a preselected position'according.

to the'characterof the charging material required'by said receptacle, a striker appertaining to each receptacle biased to a normal position and movable in opposition to its bias to a cocked position, means whereby, a response to 7 any operating element engaging any selector element'during the passage of the containers past the receptacles,f

the striker appertaining to the same receptacle as said selector element is moved from its normal position to its cocked position, and means whereby, in response to'the container appertaining to said operating elernent advancing further to an appropriate position, said striker is released to return to its normal position, and thereby, strike 7 with a hammer blow to the release position the catch associated with said container, and thereby cause said con tainer to discharge its material into said receptacle. 7

References Cited in the file of thispatent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,039,473 Benn-ington May 5', 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS 7 27,523 Great Britain Dec. 30, 1898 

